Spring sprouts in the sun

Matt and Zazers pulling weeds 

SOIL: Dry on top, moist underneath, compacted

Water: Lot's of rain lately Warm Today No Rain

Pest: Lady bugs out protecting, flies, lots of good worms and centipedes, no signs of pests

Weeds: Crab Grass sprouts OMG!

Vandalism: People stepping in gardens and taking out of plants.

Work Ethic: A little unfocused

TO DO: Plant Plant Plant in spots that haven't germinated, thin out crowded rows.

Linda admiring radish starts

Spencer checkin out pea starts

Rainy Day Spring Garden Warriors!

Linda Lauren pulling weeds around their new sprouts and planting carrots

Azaziah, Zeke, Zac, Matt, Rayshawn, pulling these pesky little weeds that look like sprouts and are very tricky to identify!

The Ducks are back! A breeding pair returned to the pond to enjoy straining food materials out of the water with the filters in their beaks. They mate for life!

Troy, Spencer and Sedric's onions have a head start as they grew over winter!

Russian Red Kale and Chard starting to really make a push in spring!

Of course radish is the first to come up!

scatter plant method in the front line/row plant method in the back. We'll see which one is more productive.

Lonely Troy on a rainy day turning a bed...alone.

Panorama shot!

Ms. Tyree!

Sunny spring preparations

Repairing some beds that are starting to loosen up. Salem on the hammer, McKenzy there to support

Some beds really needed some help, this one needed a whole board removed and reattached by Linda and Lauren

    Today we planted beets in the garden and it beats being inside! As you can see it is March 5th in this photo by the date marking on the popsicle stick. We planted beets today because the weather and soil temperatures are finally warm enough for germination. Mr. Iverson planted these beets in the Giving Garden to later donate them to a shelter when they are harvested. Beets need to be planted in 1/4th inch of soil and in can be spread in rows or scattered in a box area. They take about 40-60 days to mature and form deep red edible roots underground. Additionally they can be susceptible to various worm pests and grubs that feed on the roots. 

      Additionally, beets have many uses. Some people dehydrate them and make beet chips. Beets are grown for their high sugar content also. Mr. Iverson prefers to put them in his stir fry because they turn the entire dish pink! Early humans used beets as a clothing dye and ink source. They are also a favorite for a eastern European soups called "Borscht."

     Beets are part of a group of vegetables that are eaten for their roots. Others in this group include carrots, parsnips, rutabagas, and radishes. There are many varieties of beets that range from deep red to golden. Because they can live through the winter they can be grown in many climates year round. For all these reasons above, it should be said that you can't beat a beet!

Spencer checking out the compost full of old cabbage.

It looked worse out than it was! Really nice work day

Keeping up the grounds.

Espy turning over a bed

team McLauren pulling weeds

Lakyah and Courtney Pulling weeds in their bed

Caiden and Cheyenne pulling weeds and avoiding the paparazzi

Kalysha picking up garden litter

More litter...hot cheetos...probably a SMS student 

Isaac turning over a community members bed

Salem Pulling weeds

Bed assignments and preperation

Today in gardening we capitalized on the 53 degree weather and assigned our beds for the season. First step: Weeding and Turning over. Second Step: Tagro Additive. Third Step: Returning Over. This is called DOUBLE DIGGING! 

Troy raking his shared bed even

Lauren turning the corners of the bed over by hand!

Lakyah and Spencer unloading supplies from the shed

a couple of veterans turning their new bed.

Salem helping Caiden unload some of that black gold...Tagro!

Tagro Soil Remediation

Today we added a bunch of Tagro to our soil and turned it over so that we could add some nutrients to our soil. We have all the beds in the "Giving Garden" circle ready for planting and all we need is some baby!

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First Work Day Turning Soil

Today was our first work day and the sun came out for a brief moment to give us a happy and healthy work day preparing our giving garden plots. We pulled weeds, turned the soil and practiced getting ready to work on our private group beds. GREAT DAY!

A team pulling weeds in the kale patch preparing for turning over

clearing out the lettuce bed and turning it over nicely

working on the beet/carrot patch the boys attacked the dirt with fury!

Winter weather takes it's toll